Seems like most of your readers are in the medical profession in some way. So the general "eewww" reaction strikes me as odd because I would think the ONE thing you don't want to be if you go into medicine is squeamish. Sounds counterproductive, a bit like becoming a high-wire artist with acrophobia, no?

Hildy, Last I heard they don't perform a cranial nerve IX/X-ectomy upon admission to med school. Gross is gross. Don't tell me you're the kind of patient who brings in random stool samples to the dermatologist?

Had a customer once bring me a mason jar with hair in it...and LICE...he wanted to be sure it was lice...and when he tried to open the jar I barked DO NOT OPEN THAT JAR!!!! I think I startled myself...and him. i also think he believed me when I told him it was indeed lice.

ShrtStormTrooper and OldMdGirl: Oddly, there's nothing I've come across so far that grosses me out. Probably a good thing because I rescue animals and take care of the elderly demented. Of course, I've yet to be present at, say, a decapitation, so maybe there will be something, but not so far. I just would have thought that being squeamish would make it darn hard to practice most kinds of medicine. (And, no, I don't bring unrequested samples. I don't even bring requested ones. Can't be bothered.)

Um yeah.... being in the Medical profession we get blessed with wonderful human amazements. One day at the Pharmacy, I was helping a older gentleman with his medication as he pulled out a large white envelope. He said "Id like to ask you about these." He opened the envelope and inside contained little worms.... I (stupidly) asked "Well where did they come from?" He replied, "I fished them out of the toilet this morning after my BM." Gagging I let him know he needs to go show his doctor. Later that day we got an RX for Vermox and he let me know I was right for him going to the doctor because those worms were growing inside him.... *face palm*

You just didn't happen to have a bottle of some diagnostic reagent on hand at the time? To identify the scrapings? Yea, pretty disgusting.

I'm wondering the commenter on medical professionals wouldn't have realized that the more someone knows about something, the more they realize that don't want to touch random samples without adequate gloving and gowning? And, maybe a freely sprayed application of phenol aerosol? Ignorance is bliss.

I remember when I was a houseman sitting in clinic with my boss. A very yellow patient came in and showed us three honey jars full of urine showing a steady darkening. One sample was of totally normal colour, and he informed us it was three months old.So why was he collecting piss in a jar before he noticed anything wrong?

I have had clients bring in fecal samples (their own feces), attempt to show me rashes on private areas of their body (I avert my eyes and request they re-clothe immediately), and even in one case request that I do a prostate exam to see if his regular doctor was telling the truth about his BPH.

I never got used to this. As a Pharmacist, this happens all the time. Whether it's a used tube of vaginal creme presented for refill or a jar with the remains of a extended release potassium or glipizide xl tab fished out of the toilet, I don't get it.

Welcome to my whining!

This blog is entirely for entertainment purposes. All posts about patients may be fictional, or be my experience, or were submitted by a reader, or any combination of the above. Factual statements may or may not be accurate.

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